This photo taken on 13 November 2013 shows a timber company's vehicle driving down a dirt road in the forests of in Berau, East Kalimantan. Researcher say deforestation has led to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and a loss of Indonesia's biodiversity.

A new study has shown that Indonesia lost about 60,000 sq km of virgin forest - an area close to the size of Ireland - over a period of 12 years.

The rate of deforestation has increased so much that Indonesia has for the first time surpassed Brazil in the rate of its clearance of tropical forests.

The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Scientists monitored the growth of deforested land in Indonesia between 2000 and 2012 using satellites.

Picture of Riau province's rate of deforestation. Satellite imagery of Indonesia's Riau province showed wetland forest loss (in red) and forest degradation (in blue) over the study period
They say the land was cleared to make way for palm oil plantations and other farms.

By 2012, the loss of primary forest every year in Indonesia was estimated to be higher than that in Brazil, said scientists.

In that year, Indonesia lost 8,400 sq km of forest compared to Brazil which lost 4,600 sq km.

Nicaragua cloud forest 'under siege' by illegal loggers.

Bosawas forest - the Bosawas Reserve is a critically important rainforest but native people say it is being destroyed by "colonists"

A famed rainforest in Nicaragua is under growing threat from illegal loggers, say indigenous leaders.

The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is Central America's largest tropical forest with clouds constantly drifting over the hilly terrain.

But the Mayangna and Miskito people who live there say 30,000 hectares a year are being deforested by "colonists".

They are calling on US president Barack Obama, who is visiting the region, to support their battle.

Described by the United Nations as a global biological treasure, the reserve is located on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras and teems with wildlife.

“We believe that if there is no intervention there will be no Biosphere Reserve in five to 10 years” Taymond Robins, Mayangna people

The two million hectares are said to be home to 150,000 insect species, rare jaguars, eagles and crocodiles as well as the world's last populations of Baird's Tapir and the Central American Spider Monkey.

Landless invaders

The Bosawas reserve also overlaps the homes of indigenous communities who have been there for centuries, living by hunting and fishing.

The Nicaraguan government recognised the full legal title of the Mayangna to their lands in 2007.

Race to save Ecuador's 'lungs of the world'

The Yasuni National Park, known as

"the lungs of the world" and one of the most bio-diverse places on earth, is

under threat from oil drilling. The race is on to find the funds required to

develop new sustainable energy programmes that would leave the oil - and the

forest - untouched.

In the early light of dawn, the Napo River, running swiftly from its

headwaters in the high Andes, swirled powerfully past the bow of our motorised

canoe.

Suddenly, a dense cloud of green parrots swooped down from the canopy of the

jungle and in a cackling din started scooping tiny beakfuls from the exposed

muddy bank.

The heavy mineral rich clay, the birds seem to know, is an antidote to the

toxins present in the seeds of the forest which are a major part of their daily

diets.

As if on cue at 07:30 local time, as the first rays of